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Scotland 3 Faroe Islands 1: McCann goal keeps Scots dreams alive

BIRDS outnumber humans by 10 to one on the Faroe Islands but yesterday the islanders were undone by a species many of us thought had gone the way of the dodo or the great auk. Neil McCann, playing as an old-style, buccaneering winger after mending a rift with Scotland manager Berti Vogts, was the key figure as Scotland achieved the 3-1 victory that keeps them on course for at least a Euro 2004 playoff place.

McCann scored Scotland’s first and was also heavily involved in the creation of two more after the battling Faroese had unsettled Hampden with an equaliser. He rewarded Vogts handsomely for including him in adventurous line-up.

With Christian Dailly and Steven Pressley suspended and Paul Lambert and Don Hutchison injured, Vogts dispensed with the midfield diamond he had used against Germany and Norway and opted instead for width in the shape of Paul Devlin on the